"Huff... huff..."
Xin Mu's technique was a little rough, but some mysterious force seemed to guide him, letting him press the right spots every time.
Before long, Meownei fell asleep. By the time she woke up again, Nurse Joy had finished the examinations.
The other Pokémon scheduled to compete tomorrow were all fine. They just needed to rest as usual.
Afterward, they returned to the hotel and rented its conference room to hold their pre-match meeting.
They had originally pinned all their hopes for the individual competition on Xin Mu alone. Taking home the runner-up spot as well was an unexpected bonus, and it meant they could relax a little more during the remaining events.
"Coach, Brother Han, say something."
"Yeah. Last year, when we couldn't beat anyone, you had so much to say to encourage us. We've got all this momentum this year, so why are you both so quiet?"
The coach and the data analyst had stood in front of the projector for ages without managing to say a word, leaving the school team rather puzzled.
"There's not much to say... Have your Farigiraf set up Light Screen and Reflect, then Baton Pass to Skarmory.
Skarmory lays Spikes, then leaves the rest to Meowscarada. The remaining Pokémon serve as backups so Meowscarada can recover her stamina.
Oh, right. If the other side tries to control the weather, we'll have to take it back. We don't need the weather ourselves, but we can't let them use it freely."
Their strategy was utterly straightforward: five supporting one, then letting their star carry.
When a team had one and only one powerhouse to lean on, this was undoubtedly the best strategy.
While they discussed how to protect their carry, the other teams were studying how to take her out.
Based on the past day's battles, their conclusion was... they couldn't.
She wasn't the usual fragile damage dealer, but an all-round monster with every stat maxed out. Their own Pokémon simply weren't strong enough to accomplish such a daunting task.
"Why don't we... forfeit?"
"Forfeit?"
"Yeah. The Team Competition is different from the individual competition. It's a round robin, not a knockout tournament. Since we can't deal with that Meowscarada, we won't. Let the others fight her while we conserve our strength.
Let them have first place, and we'll fight for second. Don't forget, tomorrow's pick-four-from-six event is our strong suit.
However powerful his Meowscarada is, she won't be able to do anything in that round. Even if they take first in both these events, we'll still have a chance tomorrow as long as we get second."
"I don't think that's a good idea. Forfeit without even fighting? You all know their average strength. As long as we take out that Meowscarada, the rest of their Pokémon will be easy to handle. Let's at least try."
Some members of the team still had reservations about the proposal, but when the competition began the next day...
"Aggron has undergone Mega Evolution right from the start, looking for revenge! Aggron is charging in! Uh... Aggron is down!"
Mega Evolution brought enormous stat increases. After Aggron Mega Evolved, the metal armor covering its body grew thicker, turning it into a heavyweight tank with substantial boosts to both defenses.
After that failed revenge match, the teams watching from the sidelines quickly changed their tactics. Quite a few adopted the same idea and began competing for second place, resulting in one passive battle after another during the Team Competition.
"Congratulations to the Eastern Campus team of Eastern Pokémon University for winning the Team Competition in the easiest way possible! This is the closest this team has ever come to the overall championship.
Their achievement owes a great deal to contestant Xin Mu and his Meowscarada. However, tomorrow's event accounts for the largest share of the points. What kind of result can they achieve without their greatest advantage...?"
"Ahem. Everyone, we can't celebrate too soon. Let's not pop the champagne at halftime. Still, they seem to have forgotten that pick-four-from-six was our best event to begin with."
Despite telling them not to pop the champagne at halftime, Jia Qiong's grin was harder to keep down than an AK's recoil. They had already cleared the two toughest hurdles, and they were decent at the remaining event to begin with. As long as they performed normally, bringing home a good placing wouldn't be a problem.
Compared with their past results, this was already a major breakthrough.
"What Pokémon will the organizers provide?"
"We don't know. That's kept completely secret until we receive the Poké Balls tomorrow. But don't worry. This is the fairest event of all. At least the Pokémon will be roughly equal in strength, without any outrageous level gaps. It all comes down to how you command them.
And our biggest opponent in this event... is an old acquaintance, that girl from the Southern Campus."
As he spoke, Jia Qiong pressed a button on the remote and brought up someone's profile.
"Is there something special about her? Does she have an exceptional grasp of theory?"
"No. The competitors giving commands in pick-four-from-six are all at roughly the same level. There isn't much of a gap. Her advantage is... she's a psychic herself."
"Like Sabrina in Saffron City?"
When Jia Qiong mentioned psychics, Xin Mu's first thought was Sabrina, the Saffron Gym Leader, who could use her psychic powers to shrink people or even turn them into dolls.
"No, no, no. Nothing that extreme. She can just communicate telepathically with Pokémon."
Psychics were no secret in this world. For certain special reasons, some humans also possessed these supernatural powers, though the ways those powers manifested varied.
Sabrina was undoubtedly among the strongest. Her psychic powers could even affect things in the physical world.
"Telepathy... If I remember correctly, one of the Frontier Brains at Hoenn's Battle Frontier has that ability, right?"
"That's different. You're talking about Anabel, the Battle Tower's Frontier Brain. She has an incredibly close bond with the Pokémon who accompany her and treats them as her dearest friends. Much like you and your Meowscarada.
They say that when her emotions run high, she sometimes becomes one in mind with her Pokémon and can convey her thoughts directly to them. She can command them in battle without even giving an order.
This girl is different. She can establish a direct telepathic link with Pokémon, which gives her a huge advantage in battles using unfamiliar Pokémon."
Trainers sometimes agreed on coded signals with their own Pokémon, something that could be called "He Chenguang mode."
They might shout an order to use Protect, only for their Pokémon to unleash Hyper Beam instead. This could also throw off the opposing trainer's judgment.
But that wasn't possible with unfamiliar Pokémon. Psychics could skip that preparation, allowing the Pokémon to receive instructions more directly while also keeping their opponents in the dark about their intentions, making it difficult to respond in time.
"Meow~"
"Coach, Meownei says she has a plan. How about letting her give the commands?"
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